


go 'head ruin my makeup

by Lilmint



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Female James Potter, Fluff, Jamie is hopeless, Pining, fem!Jily, jily, no angst on wlw land, thejilyship's Fem!Jily February 2021, this is a big ball of sappy feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29685297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilmint/pseuds/Lilmint
Summary: “Did you forget the part where you asked for this Potter? I thought you wanted to look Muggle for tonight,” huffs Lily while she turns her back to the sitting witch beside her and rummages through the impromptu makeup counter in front of her, trying to choose her next product.When she turns back she has an admittedly slightly less dangerous pointy stick in her hand but a much, much more wicked smile. “Well, this is how we do things – á la Muggle.”orLily helps Jamie get ready for her date
Relationships: James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 16
Kudos: 20
Collections: Fem! Jily





	go 'head ruin my makeup

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by that. photo.  
> Thank you FrustratedPoet1979 for being a wonderful beta.

“— if you would just stop moving around—“  
  
“Oh, this isn’t moving around Evans. This is a basic bloody reflex. Happens when someone pokes your eye repeatedly with a sharp object - can even be called survival instinct, really.”  
  
Jamie can tell her audience is not appreciating these smartarse responses from the way she huffs while passing the eye pencil she holds from one hand to another. She’s even willing to bet that Lily is currently rolling her eyes in exasperation, but she finds it a little hard to care much for her annoyance at the moment. All her thoughts are focused on how nervous she is, how sweaty her palms are, and how much time she has left until her date. She realizes what a bad idea it was to even think about _the date_ as her right leg starts jumping up and down again. Right… Better not open that can of worms and focus on the present then - which honestly starts to seem much worse for her nerves because Lily has decided to stop the shaking leg with a firm press of her hand.  
  
A breath held. For one second, two maybe. Her leg stilling so abruptly... The hand has left her thigh. She really doesn’t know how long she can keep doing this.  
  
“Did you forget the part where you asked for this Potter? I thought you wanted to look Muggle for tonight,” huffs Lily while she turns her back to the sitting witch beside her and rummages through the impromptu makeup counter in front of her, trying to choose her next product.  
  
When she turns back she has an admittedly slightly less dangerous pointy stick in her hand but a much, much more wicked smile. “Well, this is how we do things – á la Muggle.”  
  
Jamie can’t tell if she is terrified of or excited with the promises behind that smile, those two feelings that become so interchangeable whenever she’s around her.  
  
“Okay, I need you to close your eyes,” instructs Lily while leaning into her face slowly, causing Jamie’s mind to short-circuit completely, rendering the dazed witch unable to follow the simple command.  
  
She is still looking a little stunned and not even blinking - which is, you know, the opposite of what she ought to do - when Lily’s face clouds with worry as she feels the need to add, “so I can smudge the pencil? A little hard to do when your eyes are open without you screaming bloody murder about maiming and survival instincts.”  
  
This, Jamie can understand and readily comply with – thinking that maybe not seeing the girl standing _oh so close_ to her can help with some of her worries at the moment. Which are mainly concentrated on not making a fool out of herself, as they always are. She realizes how wrong she was, and what an idiot she had been to even think otherwise when Lily’s hand comes out of nowhere and holds her head in place.  
  
Now, logically Jamie can understand that the said hand did not _actually_ come from nowhere – she just had the misfortune of having her eyes closed and had no time to prepare herself for it. She also understands the necessity of holding her head in one place as she is prone to fidgeting around whenever Lily becomes too close. The problem is however, her warming cheeks, out of rhythm heart, and swooping stomach did not seem to get the same memo as her brain.  
  
The swooping stomach, she’s used to. It has become an almost permanent feeling whenever she’s around Evans. Considering they are roommates who have the same schedule, it was safe to say that this was a daily occurrence – which you’d think would give her some time to get used to it. But every time Lily laughed, smiled or yelled at her at questionably high volumes, it came back - strong as ever. So Jamie learned to live with her butterflies’ residence in her middle, their daily flutters not resented but expected.  
  
Her heartbeat is a rhythm she is prone to pay attention to for many different reasons. It pounds in her ears under her invisibility cloak, with the adrenaline of almost getting caught after a good prank. It beats out of her chest, just before the starting of a Quidditch match, blocking her ears to the screams coming from the stands. And now it stops and it starts again whenever Lily decides to call her Jamie, whenever she leans in to her while they are sitting like this is just something they normally do.Whenever she recalls something that Jamie mentioned ages ago – never expecting her to pay attention, never expecting her to care. She doesn’t know how many missteps her heart can take, she can take. She supposes it can’t be healthy, to have a heart that loses its rhythm this much around one person, but she never was one to take the healer’s orders was she?  
  
The quickly rising temperature of her cheeks, she is trying to will into disappearing to no avail. At first she thinks it’s because her eyes are closed - she was just hyper aware of the soft and small hand on her face, barely covering her cheek. As she feels the warmth spreading from her cheeks to her neck as Lily strokes her face slightly – _she’s stroking her face!_ \- she realizes that it is actually a blush blossoming on the highs of her cheeks, wherever the pale skinned hand touches.  
  
Jamie wants to open her eyes desperately, needs to see Lily’s face. She needs to gauge what’s going through her mind because it is impossible to do so with your eyes closed, and she has to tell her that she is not just holding, but actually stroking her face, because Jamie really isn’t sure the redheaded girl realizes what she’s doing or how she is affecting the subject of her gentle touch. She also doesn’t know which option is worse – Lily doing this intentionally, knowing exactly how it makes Jamie dysfunction momentarily, or Lily just casually stroking her face without _any_ thought, dare she even think because she wants to?  
  
Unfortunately Jamie is not able to solve any of these mysteries because she _still_ can’t open her eyes so she decides to focus on a problem she can solve – her traitorous cheeks.  
  
Blushing always used to be Evans’ thing. Her face waiting for any moment to betray her and display the many emotions she was feeling at that moment for the whole world to see. Jamie adored Lily when she was angry and her face matched the colour of her hair, adored her when she was embarrassed and her cheeks lit aflame with emotion, when one of Jamie’s many suggestive lines left her speechless with the apples of her cheeks burning bright.  
  
Lately though it has become Jamie who’s rendered speechless, who is staring at Evans’ back, dumbfounded with a blush forming on her cheeks. Jamie who can’t form coherent sentences and stammers over every word, where she used to be able to speak even if the recipient was not always fond of the sentiments. She doesn’t know what to think of this new update, just hopes that Lily is as observant about this as she used to be.  
  
When Lily finally tells her to open her eyes, with one last lingering feather light touch, she is still at square one on her mission to get rid of her red cheeks. At least now she has the opportunity to observe Lily closely, looking for clues in her face about the presence of her ever persisting blush. It’s hard to do so as thoroughly as she desired because Lily removed her glasses at the beginning of this makeover, and she isn’t able to make out much of her facial expressions unless she comes real close to her – not that she is complaining, she thought it was a brilliant idea to help her control herself around the fluttering girl.  
  
Squinting her eyes, she tries to look at Lily as distinctly as possible.She is very sure that Lily is in fact not aware of Jamie’s blush, because there is no bloody way that she would be able to hide the self-satisfied smirk she gets anytime Jamie blunders in front of her. The sort of smile that makes you feel like she is in on a joke that you are not part of, so you better catch up to her. And Jamie is trying so hard - to catch up, to be a part, to not blunder. Just as she relaxes in her chair she sees Lily slyly putting the unused pink blush back in the makeup bag, never to be mentioned again.  
  
And she realizes, once again, that she is an idiot.  
  
Lily decides to talk to her again as she is leaning against the table casually, her whole posture relaxed. “I was thinking something golden obviously, for your eye shadow”  
  
_Obviously?_  
  
Jamie is sure she is missing something entirely, a glaring fact that is probably right in front of her face. But she had already made a fool out of herself too many times to count, and she is not going to be the butt of the joke this time. And so she repeats back the sentiment confidently,  
  
“Obviously.”  
  
Her desired _duh_ effect seems not to convey to the other side, as the word out of her mouth sounds like a question more than anything and Lily is raising her eyebrows again.  
  
“Are you fishing for compliments here Potter?”  
  
“Ah, is it because gold complements my tan complexion perfectly?”  
  
“Yes, like a drop of sunshine gliding across your face,” she says with a straight face. She only hesitates for a moment before adding, “To bring out the gold in your eyes.”  
  
“My eyes aren’t golden,” Jamie retorts quickly before she can stop herself.  
  
She is met with another eye roll, “I didn't say they are golden, did I? Just that they’ve gold flecks in ‘em.” She tilts her head to the side as she ponders over something before saying, “They come out when sunlight hits your eyes, or when you—“  
  
This time she does stop herself abruptly, looking like she already said too much before finishing her sentence, “or firelight. Any light really, just stand under a big candle next time you want to impress someone.”  
  
Jamie knows she was not going to end her sentence this way, and she knows Lily is aware of that. But right now she looks so bloody uncomfortable that Jamie can’t find it in herself to push for more answers, not when all she wants to do is make her relax again.  
  
“Well, I am ready Evans. Go ahead, make me a pretty girl.”  
  
This does seem to bring the smile back on her face. “Don’t act like this makeup shindig is not just me indulging myself,” she scoffs,” you’re already drop dead gorgeous.”  
  
While putting on the eye shadow, Lily allows Jamie to keep her eyes open, on the condition that she only looks down.Which means her hands on her lap are the only things in her line of vision. She can see them start fidgeting clear as a day when she feels Lily’s warm breath on her temple.  
  
The standing witch manages to tolerate it for three seconds before snapping. “I swear to Merlin if you don’t stop fumbling your hands around I’ll sit on them, you know I will.”  
  
Jamie lets herself think about the possibility for one glorious moment before gripping the arms of her chair so hard her knuckles turn white. She can’t see Lily’s face but she can feel the smugness radiating off her. _Whatever, she can have this round._ She can win any round really, as far as Jamie is concerned.  
  
“Look ahead for me now Potter, I need to see if both sides are equal”  
  
She happily obeys, realizing she can now stare at Lily without getting noticed as she crouches down to her eye level in front of her.  
  
Jamie uses this time wisely, drinking in the sight of her as she concentrates on the task - trying to keep the eye shadow the same level. She seems to find her work satisfactory enough, leaning back slightly to give her a once over.  
  
“Did it work?” Jamie asks with excitement in her voice, finally free from the intoxication of having those green eyes so close to her face.  
  
“Yeah, sure. You are officially a pretty girl.”  
  
“Not that, Evans. And you said I was drop dead gorgeous, no take backs now” she counters quickly. “I meant the gold flecks, did they appear?”  
  
She gets a contemplative look on her face that is disrupted by the warm smile on her lips, eyes lightening up with affection and something else that Jamie can’t place. “Yes, it worked. I am clearly a brilliant makeup artist.”  
  
The smile is still on her face as she gets up from her position on the floor to walk back to where the rest of her makeup products lay. She quirks an eyebrow as she asks, “How do you feel about false eyelashes?”  
  
“Uh, scared? Fear seems to be the general emotion, yeah.”  
  
Lily sighs like it pains her so, “Fine, we’ll stick to mascara like a boring little wuss.”  
  
She doesn’t even have the time to object to that slander before Lily is right back by her side again, asking her to keep her eyes open as she applies the mascara. She needs to slightly bend towards Jamie’s face while she does it, the height difference when one of them sits down makes it impossible not to.  
  
The slight tilt of her posture causes the wide neck of her shirt to dip a little, just enough to give Jamie an eyeful of constellations across her chest – spreading down, down and down. She counts one, two, three freckles starting from her collarbones before she realizes with a start where they are headed, snapping her eyes up immediately as she stops connecting the little dots before her.  
  
While she has the opportunity to see if her ogling was noticed by Lily, she is too embarrassed to do so – choosing to focus on a spot over her shoulder instead. When she gathers the courage to look at her face again, she is already gone from her side – seemingly done with her lashes for now.  
  
But she doesn’t jump on the next product she plans to use immediately like she had been doing until now. She doesn’t even pick up a new brush with clear glee in her face. What she does appear to be doing is staring at Jamie’s face with a thoughtful look on her face, like she is trying to calculate what her next move should be.  
  
Jamie quickly trıes to go through all the steps she knows about makeup in her mind, frantically trying to figure out if this is the end of their little moment. If it is, she knows that means it is time for her date and she also knows she is still not ready to think about that yet.  
  
She tries to cling on to their time desperately, “Well, is that all then?”  
  
“No,” Lily hums, “we still have to put on some lipstick of course.”  
  
Of _bloody_ course, Jamie had never been more relieved to hear those words as she did now.  
  
“Trying to pick a colour for me, Evans? I’ve been told I look absolutely smashing with a pink lip.”  
  
Lily lets a small smile interrupt her pensive face for a moment, “I’ve chosen a red lipstick so you can keep representing Gryffindor pride for the rest of the day.”  
  
The unsaid question lies in the air - Jamie doesn’t open her mouth to ask what the hold-up is, but she has a feeling Lily is about to answer it anyway.  
  
“There is just something I want to do before I have to worry about messing up your lipstick.”  
  
And Lily Evans is kissing her… again. Jamie was a fool to think that nothing could top their first kiss she realizes, as she feels Lily’s soft lips on her own, tries to breathe her in, tries not to die. The warm feeling in her belly still has not passed since they went on their first date. Since they walked under the snow until their cheeks turned to poppies, since Lily decided that she actually couldn’t wait for Jamie to make the first move and kissed her. A soppy smile has not been far from her lips ever since that day, widening when she looks at snow, widening even more when she gazes at those green eyes.  
  
When Lily came to her with all the excitement of the world in her face, asking if she could take her to Muggle London for their next date - how was Jamie going to say no, really? Not when she prattled on giddily about after that how their next date could be in somewhere magical again, talking about taking turns planning dates – like Jamie hadn’t been planning them since 5th year, like it escaped her notice she basically confirmed at least four dates in their future in one breath.  
  
The maddening effect of talking to Evans’ has left her body completely this afternoon, when it finally sunk in that she was going to Muggle London - a place she had never been before. The pressure on her poor nerves only rising when she turned to Sirius for some advice, _wear corduroy trousers with no knickers Prongs, that’s what all Muggles in London do I swear._  
  
So that’s how Lily finds her when she walks into their dorm – standing around a big pile of clothes, talking about how it is completely barbaric to not put on knickers. Thankfully she catches on swiftly that Jamie is seconds away from spiralling into panic and she comes up with the great idea to help her with her makeup – in the latest Muggle style, no less.  
  
To no one’s surprise, her plan works swimmingly - Jamie, no longer thinking about corduroys or knickers, focused only on Lily as she usually is. And now her whole body relaxes once more, as she is still kissing her with all she’s got. She feels Lily’s hair slipping through her fingers like silk, counting her blessings while getting lost in all the soft sounds she makes.  
  
She is still dizzy from something purely Lily when they stop kissing. They both take a moment to just breathe each other in before Lily steps away from her, a fact she only knows because her warmth is missing. She opens her eyes just in time to see Lily’s bashful but pleased smile – a smile she is getting used to now.  
  
From all those moments her brain was low on oxygen – at least that’s what she wants to believe- the first words to come out of her mouth were, “Does that mean you won’t kiss me after you put my lipstick on?”  
  
“Let me make that decision after I actually put it on, “Lily said while not taking her eyes off her, “We are already late as it is.”  
  
Lipstick proves itself to be the hardest part for Jamie - Lily is both holding her face and leaning in to her, and this time Jamie’s eyes are free to roam her face as she pleases. She has a hard time breathing as she stares at the freckles on her nose, trying not to think about the others she saw not too long ago. Just as she is starting to think she is about to turn into a puddle under the intensity of Lily’s eyes on her lips, it’s over and Jamie can breathe again.  
  
“And one last finishing touch,” Lily breathes as she goes to bring Jamie back her glasses, handing them over as fast as she can.  
  
Jamie takes a moment to drink her in when her vision finally clears up, thinking if it’s possible for her to have gotten more beautiful somehow while she was partially blind. She keeps her eyes on Lily’s face to not miss any emotion this time, “Well Evans, what’s the verdict?”  
  
The same wicked smile spreads through Lily’s lips, “Looks like I’ll be kissing you for a very long time, Potter.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually last week's theme but life happened soo better late than never.  
> I learned what an em dash is for this fic, please validate me.  
> 


End file.
